Ezra Day 2: To Hope is to Wait
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.” Ezra 1:2
It was my 16th birthday, and although turning 16 was exciting, it didn’t look anything like I thought it would. Instead of celebrating my milestone birthday with my closest friends and family, I was 756 miles away, an exile in a foreign land called Kentucky. At least, that’s what it felt like to my teenage heart. Besides my mom, dad, and sister, everything I loved was in Pennsylvania. Packing up your life and moving partway across the country is not easy, particularly as a young teen. Pennsylvania was the only place I had ever called home; my roots there ran deep.
Most days, I found happiness and contentment in the life our family was building in Kentucky. I could focus on the positives of my new life rather than dwell on the negatives. But, on my 16th birthday, I couldn’t help but think of what I was missing.
I imagine the Israelites felt this same tug between what was and what is. In many ways, they had become comfortable in Babylon, living and working among the Babylonians. Jeremiah 29 gives us a picture of their life in exile, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (verses 4-7)
As the Israelites lived their days in Babylon, making the best of their current situation, they longed for the day they could return home to Jerusalem.
I found my heart pulled the same way on my 16th birthday, making the best of my new life in Kentucky while longing for home. Our doorbell rang as my mom buzzed around the kitchen, preparing a special birthday dinner. My sister and father conveniently unavailable, I headed down the hallway to answer the door. As I pulled the door open, my heart burst in surprise — there, on my front porch, stood my grandparents and cousin. They had made the thirteen-hour drive from Pennsylvania to celebrate my birthday.
All these years later, my heart still swells when I consider their love and kindness to me — so much thoughtful planning on my behalf between my parents and grandparents. Then, to go even further and include my cousin. They knew what my heart needed and acted on it, giving me a generous gift of love at the right time. It was more than I expected or imagined.
The broken pieces of our story beg us to believe that change will never come. It asks us to focus on what is in front of us right now. But hope lives at the intersection of our struggle and the realization that we cannot put the pieces back together alone. To hope is to wait. We look ahead, focusing on what we know God can accomplish in the space between where we are and where we want to be.
For the Israelites, this place of waiting was Babylon. Can you imagine what they felt when they heard the words they had long been waiting to hear —
“Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to
Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel — he is the
God who is in Jerusalem.” Ezra 1:3
Suprise. Relief. Shock. Awe. This was the redemption they were hoping for as they waited on God to change their story as He promised. God took their hope and turned it into more than they could have imagined. As we keep reading Chapter 1 of Ezra, we see that King Cyrus didn’t only send the exiles back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, he returned all the stolen articles King Nebuchadnezzar had plundered. On top of what was stolen, the Israelites were given free will offerings of livestock, silver, and gold.
God worked out every detail, giving them more than they imagined. He took all the broken pieces of the Israelite’s story and put them back together.
He influenced the heart of King Cyrus to send the exiles back to Jerusalem
He returned the articles stolen from the Temple
He provided the Israelites with livestock, silver, and gold
He protected them, guiding them safely back to Jerusalem
We should be encouraged, friends, to see God’s hand working to redeem the Israelite’s story. I know waiting isn’t easy. It’s hard to believe God is working when we can’t see evidence of His hand in our challenges. I don’t pretend to understand all God’s ways.
I do know that when it’s time for God to move in our circumstances, He is not stingy. He gives lavishly and abundantly. He knows our hearts, and His love for us compels Him to act in our best interest. He displayed this love in the way He moved in the lives of the Israelites throughout the Old Testament. We see His love through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, in the New Testament. God desires to give good gifts to His children in a relationship with Him. His children are you and me. In the same way He redeemed the Israelites in exile, He will redeem our broken circumstances, too.
When He does, our hearts will swell in awe as we consider His love for us. In the meantime, let’s keep holding on to hope.